Dyche - "Mike Rigg has had it tougher than expected"

[Local cricketer]

No chance the club will be sold while somebody like Clive Holt is still around enjoying the Red Wine and free meals up and down the country every other saturday

[Dark Cloud]

What's unfortunately coming home to roost imo, is that when a club like us initially enters the PL, they receive approx £120 million for the first year and with extremely frugal overheads which they bring up from the Championship, they bank a large portion of it. As the miracle unfolds and they stay in the PL year on year, those overheads (mainly players salaries, but there are others) begin to spiral and we've now reached a point where we're still getting our £120 million each year, but a diminishing amount of it is "available" to spend on transfers and the accompanying wages, new stands or whatever. We USED to be rich, but I fear that those days are ebbing away and all this obviously impacts on our ability to compete in the transfer market. Like most people I seriously fear we'll sign nobody of note this window and the squad we have, who have been excellent for the past 3 seasons are now ageing and "comfortable" and are treading water which equals relegation, sadly.

[spt_claret]

I posted it elsewhere but I waffled on about other stuff (as I tend to) with the club/transfer policy so I'll stick it here:
We can't keep saying English-based players cost too much, while refusing to look abroad, while refusing to gamble on youth or squad players. Something has to give, and if budget or caution mean we won't widen our narrow & inflexible transfer policy then we need to at the very least take lessons from continental clubs like Athletic Bilbao, who maintain their La Liga status often in solid positions despite their Basque-only recruitment policy and despite not being a free-scoring side. If we're no longer willing to go as far as gambling on European players after the frustrations with Defour, minimal use of the likes of Hennings, and failures of the likes of Vossen (Even though none of this makes foreign signings inherently flawed as a concept), then we can at the very least try to take lessons and ideas from how other conservatively-minded clubs manage to maintain success in their respective levels. Yes, standards may be somewhat different, league dynamics are a little but broadly similar (1-2 maybe 3 title challengers, 3-4 Europe challengers, and the rest), but that doesn't mean there's not lessons that can be learned and applied. Sticking to the same dogma is starting to fall down.

[boatshed bill]

What's unfortunately coming home to roost imo, is that when a club like us initially enters the PL, they receive approx £120 million for the first year and with extremely frugal overheads which they bring up from the Championship, they bank a large portion of it. As the miracle unfolds and they stay in the PL year on year, those overheads (mainly players salaries, but there are others) begin to spiral and we've now reached a point where we're still getting our £120 million each year, but a diminishing amount of it is "available" to spend on transfers and the accompanying wages, new stands or whatever. We USED to be rich, but I fear that those days are ebbing away and all this obviously impacts on our ability to compete in the transfer market. Like most people I seriously fear we'll sign nobody of note this window and the squad we have, who have been excellent for the past 3 seasons are now ageing and "comfortable" and are treading water which equals relegation, sadly.

That's exactly how I see it, great post.

[randomclaret2]

Interesting that Clive Holt gets a mention. Are there any other longer serving Directors in the Premier League ? How long has he been on the Board...35 years ??

[dsr]

Just spotted the typo in my post - it was meant to say I'd be surprised if Dyche was NOT aware etc.

The reason I didn't mention training is because I don't watch them and it's not my area of expertise, I just pay for a season ticket so I can only speak on what I witness.

I don't see the benefit in signing someone if your conceit is correct and we got him with the intention of NOT playing him. Why not promote someone from the u23's if it's simply a case of having a warm body? Same with Vydra and Gibson to that extent.

Cheers for the response though, good to not get my head ripped off for venturing back onto the board

I'm not saying that the intention was to NOT play him as such. The intention, I believe, was to have a fourth midfielder who could step in if two others got injured. Just like the Gibson signing - we had only 3 satisfactory centre halves and needed to have four. (Well, as it happened we have barely even needed three, but they didn't know that in advance.)

[Taffy on the wing]

That's exactly how I see it, great post.

So, what would Boatshed Bill do that's different/better?

[Dark Cloud]

So, what would Boatshed Bill do that's different/better?

I don't think anyone was suggesting there that the club are necessarily doing an awful lot wrong or that there was an easy alternative way, but were just pointing out where we're at as a club and where our problems are stemming from. TBH, the only thing they could really do differently is bite the bullet, pay significantly higher transfer fees and the accompanying wages and hope (pray) that the gamble pays off and the players are worth it and keep us up for the next 3 years until we need to re stock again, but it might be all a bit late for that.

[IanMcL]

As quoted above, the income is largely used as wages, in our case. For any player to join, who may be wanted by others, we have to make a reasonable offer - not the best. The attraction has to be that there is a good chance of making the team. That is currently, not a selling point we have! Incoming players should expect a settling in period, however, they should also expect a chance to play several matches.

Big fees? No. Wasting funds unnecessarily, as we have to be able to sell for more or the same.

Low fees for Championship players. These will be unproven and a risk. Some you win some you lose.

Barnes excellent value. Wood good value. Bardsley and Pieters excellent value. Vydra not fitting the style. Wells...not fitting anything. Rodriguez will fulfil and be excellent value.

It is ok having an alternative style of player....but only if that style is ever a consideration. Otherwise, you have wasted your money.

Given the difficulty to recruit with European football on offer, it is hard to see where we go from here, with relegation a possibility at this moment. Maybe not by March, but who knows.

[Longside4evr]

Its like skinning an onion.The richest league in the world you can't play at The Grosvenor without any chips
You either enter or forget it It's like a tramp walking up do you think security would let him enter the building
We did it on merritt and deservedly earned it, our fans have suffered enough in the passed i dont want to trade my Versace suit for rag tag and bobtail one just because the the guy doesn't want to stand at the roulette table.
Even Garlick owned a betting business and that says a lot
I am not after Vagas but a do on the poker table from time to time if you catch my drifted

[claretonthecoast1882]

Do I need to stick this in google translate ?

[MACCA]

Its like skinning an onion.The richest league in the world you can't play at The Grosvenor without any chips
You either enter or forget it It's like a tramp walking up do you think security would let him enter the building
We did it on merritt and deservedly earned it, our fans have suffered enough in the passed i dont want to trade my Versace suit for rag tag and bobtail one just because the the guy doesn't want to stand at the roulette table.
Even Garlick owned a betting business and that says a lot
I am not after Vagas but a do on the poker table from time to time if you catch my drifted

So in short you dont want any more craps ignings....

[Longside4evr]

Do I need to stick this in google translate ?

Do what you want but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear
We need to buy some good Venison before it rots and delusions of grandeur sets in

[Longside4evr]

So in short you dont want any more craps ignings....

Rather go with what we got if we are not prepared to roll the dice
Rigg knew the score and all this being rolled out of the club about he's finding it harder than expected
Do you think for one minute at his interview Garlick said take it easy here we can't give you much you'll have to work your socks off, we are employing you to deliver what we couldn't then again Scapegoat comes to mind

[MACCA]

Rather go with what we got if we are not prepared to roll the dice
Rigg knew the score and all this being rolled out of the club about he's finding it harder than expected
Do you think for one minute at his interview Garlick said take it easy here we can't give you much you'll have to work your socks off, we are employing you to deliver what we couldn't then again Scapegoat comes to mind

Who knows, he might have a few aces up his sleeve

[Hedontplayforyou]

Had it tougher than expected? Haven’t we all? Roll your sleeves up and crack on Rigg

[Longside4evr]

Hope he does have the ace of spades up his sleeve pal
But put yourself in a work position after 18 months plus and not a progressive mater as come from your line of work your employer turns round and says hes had it tougher than expected
yer cos they wont flex and push the boat out. that's exactly what a boss would say knowing he wasn't prepared to give out some resources to compete to achieve

[IanMcL]

The Nristol City Swedish U21 winger seems to be the target today.

[claretblue]

another midfielder unavailable to us!

scored 11 goals and had six assists in the Bundesliga last season

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51085246